Ocon's racecraft still needs improving

Ocon, 21, has scored points in all but one of this year's races and lies eighth in the standings, right behind his Mexican teammate, with 65 points to his name.

Fernley praised Ocon for his feisty opening laps in the Japanese Grand Prix, but cautioned that he still still has a lot to learn from veteran Perez.

"He is getting better, and he's fortunate to have a very, very good teammate, who is an absolute out and-out-racer, who keeps him very, very focussed," Fernley said.

"He's still got a little bit to learn in terms of racecraft, and that's where he benefits from having Checo around him.

"On out-and-out pace he's there, but he's young, and he's still got a little bit to go."

Ocon started fifth in Japan and initially jumped up to third after passing Daniel Ricciardo and the handicapped Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

He ran strongly for a while, but inevitably lost out to the faster cars behind, and eventually finished sixth.

"It was awesome fun," said Ocon. "The first few laps were great, I was running third.

"I did a fantastic start, and I was running in front of Ricciardo. We had nothing to be scared of behind, nothing to gain in front, so that was the maximum we could have done.

"The important thing was that we brought the car home. We still took some understanding, and I hope we can become stronger and get closer to them."

Force India has all but guaranteed itself fourth place in the constructors' championship as the team enjoyed another strong race at Suzuka, with Perez backing up Ocon in seventh.

Fernley said that the Singapore update package has paid dividends.

"For us it was a textbook race, we just delivered. From our point of view we introduced the updates in Singapore, and that's two races where we've been able to get the package right, and we've been on our own in terms of being the fourth fastest in qualifying, and the fourth fastest in races.

"It's a good step in the right direction. We've just got to keep hard at it."